Elephant? :-D

Nothing was eaten? See any paw prints?

skunks? They dig the soil in order to find bugs under surface... I had watermelon plant dug out this year. Though my holes were much deeper.

I repeated a picture in the above, and I can't delete it, sorry.

I can't understand the mind of this animal, just pure destruction, broken branches, 1/2 - 3/4 plants broken off, entire tops broken off uprooting, but for all the destruction eat did not eat that much:

continued below

And plants it did not actually uproot or break, it shoved down or dug into it:

and in a another part of my yard I see this on many of my squash. What is it trying to do? Stake territory? Looks like Jurassic Park.

Sadly it is actually a lot worse when you walk up there than it seems in the photos.

How can I stop this?

Do you think any of these plants will be salvageable?

Thank you.

K.

Some eating then maybe not. maybe tasting and chewing. It kept entirely to the pepper plants.

no paw prints really in this part of the yard as there was the landscape fabric.

Do you have bears? Looks like angry teenager damage, which bears are capable of doing.

For me, last year, it was deer. Almost a total loss; very disheartening. And my garden was well fenced. If your animal has been there twice, you can count on it, he'll be there a third time. Replant the ones that are uprooted, and water them, but you'll need a physical barrier. For me, the culprits that simply bite a plant off and then don't eat it are squirrels, but they don't leave huge gouges like what's in your squash. I've found spray repellants effective against squirrels and rabbits.

The squash looks like a werewolf got to it. However, the full moon isn't until tomorrow.

Raccoons are a possibility too I suppose. I can't really tell how big that gash is, but I know raccoons have some claws on them.

Unfortunately it's supposed to rain in NYC today, but I would say to sprinkle flour around and see what kind of prints you get when it comes back.

Squirrels, tree rats, coons and possums are the guilty ones here. Very hard to repel them.

Wow. That's just plain awful, you must have been horrified. I'm so sorry that happened. Wish I had an answer. If it was mine (and I couldn't convince my DH to stay out all night with shotgun at the ready), I'd buy a cheap game camera to find out what was doing it. Then you'll know for sure and get the best methods of getting rid of it. Best of luck to you.

I'm still going with elephant. It used its trunk to scratch those marks to frame the possums and throw you off its trail.

Could it be a dog?

If you had armadillos in NYC I'd say that was the issue but I don't think you have them that far north yet. So raccoons and/or skunks are the most likely IMO. They aren't interested in the plants themselves although coons will eat any of the fruit. Their primary goal is the grubs and insects living in the soft soil under and around the plants. Fencing is the only thing that is effective and to keep out coons it has to be a tall fence.

Sorry, I know it is terribly discouraging.

Dave

Groundhogs and/or marmots also can do lots of damage (or is a marmot just a groundhog?).

Sad to see that katya. I'm with a couple above..It almost looks human. Piss anybody off recently? lol Probably just one of the critters mentioned, though. I know dogs are good for coons...they'll visit the front yard, but never near the back where my dog patrols.

You asked if the plants still had a chance... The peppers? Most definitely. You'd be surprised how resilient they are. Any that have been pulled completely, replant and water in(you would have already had to do this immediately after seeing the damage though). They may just take hold. The ones where branches are just broken, clean up the carnage and they'll most like recover. What sucks is it happening at this point in the season(less time to recover AND thrive).

Good luck

Kevin

Between the amount of destruction and the marks on the squash I would go with groundhog. I've been dealing with squirrels, deer, birds, chipmunks and rabbits attacking everything but my peppers, but that is probably just regional cuisine preferences. Deer ate my green tomatoes and the few that remained were getting destroyed by chipmunks when they started to ripen. I used bird netting around the raised bed with the tomatoes and that didn't slow them down, even stapled around the bottom. So I started trapping and got 5 in the first 12 hours and now still get one every day or so. I'm up to 9. And that is only setting the trap right under the tomatoes and within the netting.

At least now I'm getting most of my ripening tomatoes.

Thank you everyone for being so supportive. I felt a real blow. I haven't gardened for quite a few years and was getting emotionally attached to my garden and working very hard on it.

I could not take care of the plants yesterday because I had a long list of responsibilities. I cleaned up this morning and replanted what I could. I had left the soaker hoses on full so the exposed roots had not dried up. Some of these plants will live but with much setback. Most plants have 50-90% broken off though. And most of the pepper that have been growing for the last 2-3 weeks are gone. So its start over with new peppers to set. So who knows if there will be ripe peppers this year.

This animal had done this once before and I had cleaned up and replanted what I could. And before I could regroup it came 2 days later and did it again. That's what hurt. I did not think I could find and put up a defense before it destroyed everything I have growing.

No bears, no deers where I live. And I don't think we have armadillos. But I have seen skunks and opossum, along with babies. They just walk past me, sniffing me as if its there place and I am intruding. And way, way, too many raccoons. There may be groundhogs but I have not seen them, yet. And though we have what seems like a million squirrels it is not those at this time. They are completely diurnal and have left these plants alone so far. (They are onto the fruit and nut trees all day long.) This animal only comes late into the night. And its a waddler as I look at the path of destruction. I am thinking it is raccoons and skunks.

It is a dexterous animal. It cleanly broke off branches instead of just crushing the plants with its weight although it do a lot of crushing. But I really don't understand why it would do so, so, so much damage when it just wanted some peppers or soil animals. An angry, hungry, teenage mammal like Marianne said.

It was focused on the peppers but it was not only the peppers. Big bites have been taken out of all the low hanging eggplants and mauled too. It had tried to dig out the eggplant-plants too and break branches but these plants were much bigger and hardier and it did not succeed it doing as much damage.

One thing I did last night to try to distract this animal was put out plates in three areas of my yard with peanut butter, cat food and cooked rice. As well as bowls of water. Everything was licked clean. and none of my plants were touched. I did not see any fresh wounds. So it did come again. I don't know if it was a good or bad thing to do. Maybe I am inviting more trouble.

I know the sentiment now why villagers kill wildlife. For me, these plants are just a lighthearted hobby, for them its a livelihood. If an animal caused this much destruction to ones livelihood its not a surprise that one would want them dead. And this coming from an unequivocally animal/environment friendly family.

I am working on fencing and thinking about a dog as has been suggested.

Thank you so much for listening.

K.

And Kevin it does look terribly human. That was my first gut-response. But I realized for many reasons it was not.

rgreen48: not funny about the elephant :)

I don't know how to trap animals and then what? What do I do with the trapped animal? Here we are not allowed to kill animals other that rats and mice.

I'm with the human animal as the cause.

After my garden was destroyed last year I decided to always have some plants that the animals would not touch. I.e., onions, leeks, garlic, ... mm, sweet potatoes aren't bothered too much. And the flowers: foxglove, iris, lenten rose, ferns... there are others. But don't get a dog just to guard your veggies. Very unfair to the dog, who should have a loving and attentive person who enjoys doing things together.

donnaroyston: thank you. I see the wisdom in what you say. And progressively I am going from the fancy to low maintenance and happy too.

I totally agree with you about the dog. I have postponed getting a dog for so long because getting a dog would be like having another child for me. In my life I just didn't have the time and energy to take care of and enjoy one as I would want to. But now maybe is a good time to start.

thank you,

K.

So disheartening to see. I too have been seeing damage this year to plants that have never been touched before (pepper plants - the plant stems are chew through. It's not cut worms either the damage is maybe 3 inches up.) The same with eggplants and a few tomatoes. All but 1 cucumber plant was destroyed. All of my melon plants were toast and three quarts of my bean plants. I've never had this much damage, not even when I found hoof marks in me garden last year. I'm thinking squirrels, racoons or possums, maybe bunnies are doing the damage.

My bet is raccoon.

Check this person's damage: http://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-side-benefit-of-taking-pictures.html

Trap and relocate...permanently.

booberry85, thank you. I am sorry for what is happening to your garden too, I know.

Ikzz, Thank you for that link. I am sorry for that gardener. I think raccoons are involved too. In the past few days my partner caught 4 raccoons and two opossums and had them removed. I know, from what many of you are saying that is not a big number. But we live 15 mins from Times Square and 25 mins from Wall St. Two nights ago an animal or animals came again and broke the top off (no leaves left, just a few inches of lower stem) of two pepper plants and 2/3s of the branches of another plant. It broke off peppers from other plants and mauled them, mauled eggplants, but did not eat any greens or peppers. And this is after it had all the food and water I put out. There is at least one animal left. The mind of this animal befuddles me. In general animal do not walk around destroying their food source or damaging plants without a clear intention. Its messed up! And very smart, it can cleanly break off branches and tops of plants like it has fingers and pruners but for no understandable reason, and it probably knows how to avoid traps. .....Its depressing. I have no problem with having animals in my yard or them taking some of the food I am growing but this animal is a crazy, violent, lunatic that just destroys.

K.

"This animal is a crazy violent lunatic that just destroys".. sounds all too human. But most likely, it was just a deranged squirrel.

It's very sad what happened to your garden. Looking on the bright side, this is also an opportunity to learn a great lesson about gardening in your area, which you can build on and use for many years to come as you go on your gardening path. Just don't give in to this sinister wood imp, that would be totally depressing.

bardamu_gw thank you for your kind message. I was getting emotional and it was an exhaustive experience because every morning I would go out and there would be mindless damage. It is a deranged animal but not a squirrel. The claw and tooth marks are way too big and the damage shows a much heavier animal. And it always happens well into the night. The squirrels are at it all day long but not at night. Thank you, I am learning! K.